Non-Rigid 3D Shape Correspondences: From Foundations to Open Challenges and Opportunities
Authored by Alexsei Zhuravlev*, Lennart Bastian*, Dongliang Cao, Nafie El Amrani, Paul Roetzer, Viktoria Ehm, Riccardo Marin, Hiroki Nishisawa, Shigeo Morishima, Christian Theobalt, Nassir Navab, Daniel Cremers, Florian Bernard, Zorah Lähner, Vladislav Golyanik
Published in Computer Graphics Forum (Proceedings of Eurographics) 2026
Abstract
Estimating correspondences between deformed shape instances is a long-standing problem in computer graphics; numerous applications, from texture transfer to statistical modelling, rely on recovering an accurate correspondence map. Many methods have thus been proposed to tackle this challenging problem from varying perspectives, depending on the downstream application. This state-of-the-art report is geared towards researchers, practitioners, and students seeking to understand recent trends and advances in the field. We categorise recent approaches into three major trends: spectral methods based on functional maps, combinatorial formulations that impose discrete constraints, and deformation-based methods that directly recover a global alignment. Each school of thought offers different advantages and disadvantages, which we discuss throughout the report. Meanwhile, we highlight the latest developments in each area and suggest new research directions. Finally, we provide an overview of emerging challenges and opportunities in this growing field, including the recent use of vision foundation models for zero-shot correspondence and the particularly challenging task of matching partial shapes.
Resources
The paper has been accepted at Eurographics 2026 in the STAR track.
Bibtex
@inproceedings{ zhuravlev2026star,
author = { Alexsei Zhuravlev* and Lennart Bastian* and Dongliang Cao and Nafie El Amrani and Paul Roetzer and Viktoria Ehm and Riccardo Marin and Hiroki Nishisawa and Shigeo Morishima and Christian Theobalt and Nassir Navab and Daniel Cremers and Florian Bernard and Zorah Lähner and Vladislav Golyanik },
title = { Non-Rigid 3D Shape Correspondences: From Foundations to Open Challenges and Opportunities },
booktitle = { Computer Graphics Forum (Proceedings of Eurographics) },
year = { 2026 },
}